I’m still here. I haven’t updated due to a combination of lazy and busy. Mostly busy this time. heh We had a busy weekend and the kids were saying how much fun they had. I like hearing that from them. We didn’t do anything special I don’t think. We had special plans but the kids shot themselves in the foot and the plans went out the window. We were planning to take them to a hockey game on Saturday but it was going to be a surprise. Friday night at dinner we were all chatting and got on the subject of Batman (Dave and I had just watched the new Batman movie) and we were talking about the characters in Batman movies. Max started telling us the different side-kicks and since he’s an ‘expert’ on everything (it starts so young…) he had to tell us about these characters that we’ve never heard of. I mentioned that fact to him (that we didn’t know who these character were) and he blurted out that they are on the Batman cartoon…..OOOOPS!!! I immediately looked at him and asked WHICH channel that cartoon was on. Busted!
I have had a long-standing rule in our home that Cart00n Network isn’t allowed- Period. Not ever. I don’t care if there is even one show that I’d approve of- they can’t watch that channel. And we’ve had to get after them several times lately for watching it. I had expressly told him just a day or 2 before that he CAN NOT watch that channel. !!! So of course that totally set me off. I reminded them strongly that they can not watch that channel, they KNOW that they aren’t allowed to do it and I was very upset that they choose to disobey our rules. There are times that I do not know how to punish the kids for infractions, I sometimes feel like our parenting isn’t working very well since they choose to do what they aren’t allowed to do (strange- kids acting like kids. go figure!). But that night I had a punishment that did more than any grounding can do. We told them that we had special plans for the next night but because they chose to break the rules, we were not going to take them anywhere (which sucked for me because I really wanted to go!! LOL) and they also had to go straight to their rooms from dinner until bed time. I was disappointed in their actions and the consequences punished the entire family (meaning me and Dave too) unfortunately. So the weekend got off to a rocky start.
On Saturday I slept in until noon. hee After I got up I showered and got ready and we left. We had some errands to run in town. We had lunch at Subway (Elaina spilled her entire drink all over the floor. Fun!!) and then went into a Toolz store (very cheap tools- both in quality and price) and picked out a few things just for fun. We got the kids some kites and Max bought himself a slingshot and Dave and I got some useless odds and ends. We took them to the dollar store and let them get a couple of things and then had to run to the tire store. We walked to a music store from the tire store and Dave drooled over the guitars (so expensive!!) and amps and stuff. I picked out Dave’s anniversary gift that day (small amp) and we asked about getting his guitar fixed. After that we headed to Ace hardware for a piece to hook up our dryer in the garage. Got out of there as fast as we could and headed over to Tractor Supply so Dave could return some coveralls he bought that were too tight. He got store credit and bought some boots for work. I grabbed a Cook’s Country magazine when we were checking out too. We wanted to hold some rabbits but the ones they had were the big huge white ones with pink eyes and they were so timid we couldn’t hold them. Plus they were huge! They had little brown ones last week and they were SO cute!! I told the girls not to squeal or it would scare the rabbits….may as well have told the sun not to rise. LOL Samantha is hard-wired to squeal I think, she can’t seem to help herself. So we shook up the rabbits a bit and then high-tailed it out of there.
Once we got home the kids wanted to fly their kites. I changed my clothes and went to the high part of the property (a nice big hill which always has a breeze) and we flew kites for a while. It’s so much fun! Poor Madeline’s broke right away which made her cry. She never did get it fixed so she shared with Elaina and played around with other stuff. Elaina picked out a plastic bat and ball at the dollar store so we took turns hitting (or trying to hit) the ball and I bought a small light-up frisbee and we all played with that too. It was a lot of fun until Elaina had had enough and just couldn’t keep from crying over every. thing. She spent a lot of time looking like this:
We finally called it a day and went home. I made dinner (although for the life of me, I can’t think of what we had) and then we sat and had a family bible study until bed time. Having to account for the time change sucked. We get up early on Sunday so we had to hustle things along and ultimately cut the study short so the kids could get to bed early enough. 9:30 is too late for them to be up. They need their sleep or else the next day isn’t very fun for anyone. On Sunday we went to the Kingdom Hall and then had lunch at Long John Silvers (chicken with a side of oil. ugh!) Actually before lunch I had to stop and buy some shoes I could stand to walk in longer than 5 minutes. (I’m a slave to fashion- love my heels!!) I found some flats for less than $7 so that was cool. I wanted to try some recipes in the Cook’s Country magazine so we went to Hell Mart for some stuff I didn’t have and for some odds and ends. We went home and after everyone changed I plopped in front of the computer for an hour or so. I had bought another kite at WM so after a while I went out to try it. We were expecting rain so I didn’t know if we’d have much time to be outside. Turns out- we had lots of time!! We spent a couple of hours up on the hill flying the kite -I was able to let the string out totally, add a second ream of string, let it out fully and then attach a 3rd ream of string and let it out. It was awesome! The kite looked like a speck in the sky. Of course it’s not so fun when the wind slows down and your kite falters and does a nose-dive towards the woods. LOL I reeled it in really fast and saved it from certain death. Max ran down to it and lifted it up enough to catch air and rise again and we got it way up high again.
Dave brought his golf clubs up after a while and took a few practice shots. I wanted to give it a shot since I’ve never done it before. Turns out I’m really bad at hitting golf balls! My kids did better than me. LOL The kids each took turns trying to smack the ball. They loved that. It was so windy that day that the balls David hit were grabbed by the wind and thrown into the woods so he ended up losing several golf balls. It was cool to watch them sailing so far though.
After a while it started sprinkling so we packed up our stuff and got into the truck (Dave brought it up in case it rained) and I drove around the fields for a bit with the kids in the bed of the truck. They loved that! I have to get over my major protective streak in order to let them do that kind of thing. I was driving so I had a lot more control and didn’t freak out. I’m trying to lighten up and let the kids do things that I would normally say no to. But there is always that voice in my head yelling at me, saying that they could get hurt and to BE CAREFUL!!! I’m learning to tell it to shut up more as I get older. I’m sure Dave would love to see me lighten up already. heh
We headed home and I made one of the recipes from the Cook’s magazine and it was yummy (chicken and cheese quesadilla pie) but spicy. Wasn’t aware of just how fiery those pickled jalapenos are! Wowy! Next time I’ll chop them smaller and use less of them. Other than the spice, it was really good. I’ll make it again. After dinner Dave suggested a rousing game of Clue so we cleaned off the table and brought out the game. It was a lot of fun and the kids loved us playing with them. It’s not my favorite board game but I enjoyed myself. It’s harder for Samantha and Elaina because of the strategy involved- they didn’t know what they were supposed to do. I’ll have to find a board game (besides Monopoly) that is good for everyone and not too babyish. After we finished the game it was the kids’ bed time and we had peace and quiet for the night (my favorite time of day).
Yesterday I ran into town, took a test in speech and then came home. It took all of 10 minutes to take the test! I’m pretty confident I aced it. If I didn’t I’ll be stunned. I came home and messed around with my FIL’s laptop, trying to help him burn CD’s. I wanted to try another recipe from the Cook’s magazine so I made some Lemon Sour Cream Cookies. Let me tell you!! They are little bites of perfection! So good!!! They are like little bites of lemon cake. Dave tried one and groaned. I told him not to mock me and he laughed. He said that he wasn’t- they were that good. One of the best cookie recipes I’ve ever made. I made dinner when I was done with the cookies but it didn’t turn out as well as the cookies. It wasn’t bad, but not not a good as I had hoped. Again, I used a recipe from the magazine and made a Roast Lemon Chicken but it was a bit too lemony. It was good but not awesome. I go for awesome when I cook. LOL I also made what was supposed to be rosemary carrots but I had no rosemary so they were basil carrots instead. heh I hate rosemary anyway so no big loss to me. I loved them, they were good. After dinner I had to put my feet up- they were so swollen from standing for hours. I have problems with my feet and legs swelling. It’s annoying, painful and embarrassing! I don’t know what to think about it- it can’t be normal at my age. We sent the kids to be shortly after dinner and retired to the couch for the evening.
Today I had classes starting at 8:30 so I had to get out of the house early. I hate Tuesdays and Thursdays. LOL I got to class early today (Whoo!) and when I left for the day I went to the gym. I did level 2 on the arc trainer today (up from level 1), for 20 minutes. After that I used the rowing machine- I rowed 3000 meters and really pulled hard on the handle thing and boy did I start feeling my abs. I would have gone longer than I did if my back wasn’t hurting. I wish there was lumbar support on that machine but if you’ve ever seen one- it’s just a teeny seat (my large arse more than covers the entire seat. LOL) and my back was bothering me a lot so I had to call it a day and leave. But I did have a great workout, I felt it where I wanted to feel it which is my goal.
I did some banking and then went and bought part of Dave’s anniversary gift. I’m excited to give it to him. He knows about part of it but not all of it. I hope he likes the surprise part. If not, I’ll take it back.
I took some pictures of me the other day- thought I’d post a couple. I know blogs are way more interesting with photos to look at. So here goes (I’m working on being less self-conscious and stepping out of my comfort zone. Be nice!)-
The apartment is a mess- always. Try to ignore it. LOL Yes, I have a double chin. I like it, it keeps my neck insulated. hee hee! Anyway- that’s me. Hi! :0)
